Campbell’s layoffs hit Charlotte Lance cracker workers amid $500M in cost cuts
The Campbell Co.’s sweeping companywide layoffs of salaried employees amid declining sales that was announced this week includes workers in the Charlotte area, who make Lance crackers.
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Based in Camden, N.J., the soup, snack and sauce company has initiated a $500-million, four-year cost-cutting plan that includes job cuts. Campbell’s Snacks has manufacturing facilities at 8600 Crump Road in Charlotte.
“We recently completed workforce reductions, specifically through a voluntary early retirement program and involuntary reductions, we reduced our salaried workforce by approximately 13%,” Campbell’s Chief Financial Officer Todd Cunfer said during Thursday’s fourth quarter and fiscal 2026 earnings call.
The job cuts are estimated to be over 500 employees. The company has 13,700 employees companywide, including 4,300 salaried roles. Campbell’s has about 1,400 full- and part-time workers in Charlotte.
“Our Charlotte site experienced a small reduction in roles,” the company told The Charlotte Observer on Friday. Campbell’s officials declined to say how many people lost their jobs.
The sweeping layoffs follow disappointing earnings ending Aug. 2, mostly from the snacks unit. It requires “decisive actions,” Campbell CEO Mick Beekhuizen said. “Make no mistake, our results remain unacceptable. But instead of waiting for the environment to improve around us, we are addressing reality head-on.”
Snacks’ net sales fell 12% in the quarter. The company reported $9.7 billion in net sales for its fiscal year ending Aug. 2, a decrease of 5% from the last year.
Several actions are already underway, Cunfer said, including closing two snacks plants in Hyannis, Massachusetts, and Jeffersonville, Indiana. “We are not walking away from any business or brand,” Beekhuizen said. “However, our marketing investments must work harder for us.”
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In 2018, Campbell’s acquired Snyder’s-Lance Inc. for $6.1 billion, which includes the iconic bright orange cracker and peanut butter Lance sandwiches.
Snyder’s-Lance was formed in 2010 through the merger of Snyder’s of Hanover and Charlotte-based Lance. Philip Lance started selling roasted peanuts on local streets in 1913. During World War I, the cracker became popular with soldiers.
Campbell’s has seen other recent struggles in Charlotte.
In 2023, Campbell’s closed its corporate headquarters in Ballantyne, which had once housed about 1,300 corporate employees. While several workers relocated to Camden, 55 local employees did not. That same year, the company closed its Emerald nuts manufacturing plant on Crump Road, resulting in 125 layoffs. This followed Campbell’s sale of the Emerald nuts brand to Flagstone Foods.
In 2024, Campbell’s said it was investing $10 million in its Charlotte facilities, including an office building and a multi-year plan of upgrades in the manufacturing plant common areas like break rooms, cafeterias and restrooms.
The Philip Lance Center had about 50 corporate employees and 100 supply chain workers when the repurposed two-story, 40,000-square-foot office opened two years ago.
Campbell’s Snacks in Charlotte makes all 17 varieties of Lance sandwich crackers, including the most popular. ToastChee. Other snacks are Cape Cod potato chips and regional brands OkeDoke popcorn and Tom’s Snacks.
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